In Pictures: Cannes of the desert

Exiled Saharawi refugees got the chance to rub shoulders with international filmmakers deep in the Algerian desert.

Stefan Simanowitz | 18 May 2014 12:19 GMT

As the great and the good of the world’s film industry descended on Cannes, earlier this month a very different film festival was coming to a climax deep in the Sahara desert.

Far from the red-carpeted Mediterranean opulence of the Croisette, the Sahara International film festival, known as FiSahara, took place in a sun-baked refugee camp deep in the Algerian desert. What it may have lacked in glittering VIP premieres and champagne-fuelled yacht parties, FiSahara made up for in spades with dune parties, camel races and multiplex-sized screenings beneath the stars.

Now in its eleventh year, the FiSahara film festival attracted over 300 international actors, screen-writers and cinephiles, alongside thousands of Saharawi refugees exiled from their native Western Sahara for nearly four decades.

The Sahara International film festival, known as FiSahara, took place in a sun-baked refugee camp deep in the Algerian desert.

Carlos Cazurro/FiSahara

Nearly 300 international actors and screen-writers attended alongside thousands of Saharawi refugees exiled from their native Western Sahara for nearly four decades.

Carlos Cazurro/FiSahara

Attendees met with refugee families, with whom they lived for five days, sleeping in their stucco-and-tented homes and sharing simple couscous meals and sweet tea.

Carlos Cazurro/FiSahara

With temperatures topping 100 degrees Fahrenheit, screenings took place after dusk, in makeshift cinemas or projected onto a giant screen attached to the side of an articulated lorry.

Carlos Cazurro/FiSahara

Thirty international films were included as well as several made by refugees themselves in the newly established refugee camp film school.

Carlos Cazurro/FiSahara

While the films reflected stories of hope and struggle, others were purely intended to entertain, offering refugees a glimpse of what lies beyond their desiccated desert horizons.

Carlos Cazurro/FiSahara

The festival(***)s first prize - an actual white camel - was awarded to "Legna" an evocative documentary about the traditions of Saharawi poetry.

Carlos Cazurro/FiSahara

As well as films and workshops the festival also offered cultural activities, popcorn as well as children(***)s activities.

Carlos Cazurro/FiSahara

The third prize for the documentary "Dirty Wars" was collected by the film(***)s script writer, David Riker, who also led a screenwriting workshop for refugee filmmakers. "Saharawis have an overwhelming need to tell their stories."

Carlos Cazurro/FiSahara

Festival attendees worked alongside locals under the festival(***)s theme of "cinema for human rights in Western Sahara".

Carlos Cazurro/FiSahara

Filmmakers from some Arab countries as Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia, Mauritania, Morocco and Palestine also attended.